Watch Cam Levins' post-race interview on flotrack.org - here
Flotrack.org also has a feature on Levins, calling his 10k the performance of the night - here
Watch highlights of the men's 10k on flotrack.org - here
Read the feature on ncaa.com about Levins - here
DES MOINES, Iowa - Southern Utah University picked up its first individual NCAA national title on Wednesday night as Cameron Levins blazed to a first-place time of 28:07.14 in the men's 10,000-meters. Levins earned the title by running his final lap in 58.1 seconds.
The Canadian entered the race with the second-fastest time in NCAA history, running 27:27.96 earlier in the year. Levins stayed true to form and remained with the leaders from start to finish.
The race opened with an average pace of 67 seconds per lap, but then dropped to 64 seconds per lap as Arizona's Stephen Sambu, Oregon's Luke Puskedra, Stanford's Chris Derrick and Levins, each an All-American this season, formed a lead pack of four.
"I knew who the contenders were going to be," Levins said after the race. "I knew Puskedra, Chris (Derrick) and Sambu were going to be up there."
Sambu led a majority of the laps during the middle of the race with Levins hanging in fourth place before the trio of Levins, Derrick and Sambu made another break with three laps to go. The trio stayed bunched entering the final lap, but Sambu and Levins broke away with 300-meters remaining.
Levins then dropped the hammer at 200-meters and finished more than two seconds ahead of Sambu (28:09.52), breaking the 32-year-old facility record at Drake University. Derrick finished third with a time of 28:17.28. The finish gave Levins his fourth All-American citation this year after finishing fourth at the NCAA Cross Country National Championships, fourth in the men's 5,000-meters and third in the men's 3,000-meters at the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships.
"I felt like I had the strongest finishing speed," he said of not leading until the final stretch. "I just wanted to wait around. Everyone else had to build their strategy off my finish."
The finish also puts Southern Utah University (10) in fourth place in the team standings, trailing Texas (17), Nebraska (13) and LSU with 11 points.
"That was a big goal for me," Levins said on claiming the national title for SUU. "They gave me the opportunity to run and improve. I am so thankful for that and to give back to them."
Levins will be in the hunt for the men's 5,000-meter title on Friday, entering that race with the fastest time in the NCAA this year (13:18.47). The SUU senior will then represent Canada in this year's Olympic Summer Games in London.
